In a dimly lit room, the air was heavy with tension. Muffled sounds seeped through the walls, but inside, chaos reigned. On the bed, a figure struggled desperately, her movents weakening as a strong hand wrapped rcilessly around her neck.
"Is this what you wanted, Aurora?" The man's voice was low and venomous, his gritted teeth betraying his fury. "Are you so desperate to sleep with ?" Alexander's other hand tore at her clothes, his rage blinding him to the fact that sothing was amiss. The woman beneath him went still- to still – but his rage consud him, leaving him oblivious.
"Master!" a frantic voice cried from the doorway. "Please, I beg you, spare the young madam!" It was Maria, the head maid, trembling as she stepped forward. Have you forgotten how she saved your life?"
The words seed to pierce the fog of anger that was clouding Alexander's mind. His grip loosened slightly and in that mont of hesitation, everything changed. Suddenly, his wrist was seized in an iron grip. Before he could react, a sharp twist resounded in the room, followed by the sickening crack of the bone.
Alexander's eyes widened in disbelief, his pain drowned out by shock. A forceful kick sent him hurtling across the room, slamming into the wall with a loud thud.
The room fell into eerie silence.
On the bed, the woman gasped sharply, sitting upright as she clutched her throat. Her disheveled state spoke of her ordeal, yet there was a strange fire in her eyes- sothing new, sothing unfamiliar.
Maria stood frozen in place, her hands trembling. "M-Madam?" she whispered, barely able to believe what she had witnessed.
Alexander, shaking off his disorientation staggered to his feet. His expression twisted with rage and disbelief. "Aurora, have you lost your mind?" he roared. "How dare you strike !" Aurora turned her gaze to him, her breath still ragged. She looked at the man –his chiseled features, his cold, piercing eyes –and felt an odd sense of detachnt. Who is this man? she thought, her mind a whirlwind of confusion. I've never seen him before in my life....
Alexander, however, was too consud by his fury to notice her bewildernt. "Do you think playing hard to get win my affection? You're pathetic Aurora; he spat, his tone icy and detached.
"You disgust . Sign the divorce papers and get out of my life imdiately, I don't want to see a trace of you in this house by nightfall." Without waiting for further response, he stord out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Aurora remained seated, her expression blank. Maria rushed to her side, concern etched across her face. "Madam! Are you alright? Why did you strike the master? How will you win his favor now?"
The woman slowly turned her head to look at Maria, her gaze steady yet distant. "Who are you?" she asked, her voice was cold and hollow.
Maria recoiled, her confusion matching her fear. "Madam, it's Maria. Are you feeling unwell?"
Aurora didn't answer. She pushed herself off the bed, unsteady on her feet, and walked toward the bathroom. Her tattered clothes hung limply from her trembling fra.
"Madam! Where are you going?" Maria called after her, but Aurora ignored her, stepping into the bathroom and closing the door behind her.
She stood before the mirror, gripping the edges of the sink for support. The reflection staring back at her was unfamiliar. The face was dusky, round and unremarkable, frad by disheveled hair. Her features plain and round, her body overweight and unappealing. Who is this? she wondered, her thoughts a tangled ss.
Is this... ?
mories flooded her mind in sharp, disjointed fragnts, overwhelming her senses. Slowly pieces began to fit together. She wasn't herself –or rather, she wasn't who she used to be. She was Aurora Smith. The unwanted step daughter of the powerful Smith Family. Scorned by her step-father, unloved by her mother, and ridiculed for her appearance, Aurora had lived a lonely and miserable existence.
Her only solace had been Alexander. The first warmth she ever received was the day he helped her when she was bullied in the school when they were kids. Later, fate had allowed her to save him from a terrible accident. That mont had sparked a desperate infatuation within her, one that had led her to manipulate his ailing grandfather into arranging their marriage.
But Alexander had never loved her. To him, she was an opportunist –a woman who sched her way into his life and now, with his grandfather gone, he no longer felt compelled to maintain the marriage.
Aurora Smith is dead, the woman thought, her gaze steely as the truth settled within her. She was not the pitiful woman Alexander despised. She was soone else entirely. The thought hit her like a punch to the gut. The mories of another life surged forward –the life she had lived before waking up in this body. A brilliant researcher; a woman on the brink of a dical breakthrough. A life snuffed out in an explosion, only for her to awaken here, in this pitiful shell of a body.
The corners of her lips curled into a bitter smile.
A Second chance, is it?
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